Here’s a little about me.

Family. My wife, Kat, is my full-time partner and co-creator and one of the most creative and gifted yoga teachers I know. We have two sons, Brendan Arthur and Owen Raine, a welsh terrier, Wendell, and a yellow lab service dog, Harley. Much of my energy, attention, and love is for this family of mine and growing together to be more conscious, connected, and aware in the midst of our diverse Earth community. In 2017, we found out that our son, Brendan, who was 6 at the time, had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. This has turned our lives in a very different direction that we expected and now shapes the way I see the world.

Community. I am exceedingly passionate about anything having to do with community, which used to be primarily focused on my human community and now, includes our more-than-human community as much as possible. I have been all over anything connected to urban homesteading, chicken raising, bee keeping, potlucking, bio-diverse wildflower gardening, and most things related to food preservation and sustainable food raising for many years. Much of that time, I was facilitating small groups with the intent of learning together how to take care of each other better, take care of the earth better, and dive more deeply into our own diverse spiritual traditions. In recent years, I have felt more deeply the invitation to facilitate sanctuary and connection with the wild ones right outside my own back door.

Vocation. I have been studying spiritual direction and formation since 2004 and offering spiritual direction as a practice since 2011 (certified in 2013). It has been a distinct honor to be included among the ranks of young spiritual directors invited to be a part of Spiritual Directors International’s New Contemplatives Initiative (2020). I completed my chaplain residency in 2014 and currently work as a board-certified interfaith hospital chaplain in Oshkosh, WI. I have a deep heart for supporting women and men at critical moments on their spiritual journey. Sometimes this is for a long period of time and sometimes this is for one hour in a moment of extreme crisis. From one end of the spectrum to the other, I deeply desire to support individuals to draw on the resources they have to make meaning and to grow in days of light and the days of darkness. Both of my practices are strongly influenced by psychodynamic theory, specifically self psychology and intersubjective theory. I also am very influenced by Bill Plotkin’s 8 Stages of Eco- and Soul-Centric Development,  Stages of Spiritual Growth as described by Richard Rohr, and the Enneagram (certified in 2019). I am also very passionate about the male spiritual journey, including the importance of rites of passage and elders. In 2022, I was ordained as an interfaith minister through The Order of Universal Interfaith.

Learning. I take my learning and formation very seriously. 2003 marked my graduation from Bethel University in St. Paul, MN. I then went on to earn my Masters in Divinity from Bethel Seminary (2006) with an emphasis in Spiritual Formation and Pastoral Care, where I graduated as a Kern Family Foundation scholar, recognized for academic excellence and commitment to pastoral ministry. In 2012, I received my Certificate in Spiritual Formation from George Fox Seminary in Portland, OR and my Certificate in Spiritual Direction in 2013. From 2013 to 2014, I did my CPE Residency for hospital chaplaincy in Portland.

From 2008 through 2012, I helped Kat run Mandala Yoga Community, which was  an incredible opportunity not only in running a small business, but in creating a business with deep intention for community and personal growth. I also did my Men’s Rites of Passage in 2010, through M.A.L.Es (Men as Learners and Elders) which was founded by Richard Rohr. After being invited to serve on the M.A.L.Es Council of Elders in 2011, I went on to serve on the founding board of Illuman (the now current facilitator of M.A.L.Es and other programs). I continue to be passionate and active in supporting men on their spiritual journey in various ways.

My most recent learning was as a scholar at the Orphan Wisdom School with Stephen Jenkinson from 2017-2018. Meeting at his farm in Ontario, Canada with 90 plus scholars from around the world, I was immersed in the language of grief, culture, and how we have come to be as a people. This was indeed an initiation into elderhood, an intensive in learning how to do something with my “No, the world doesn’t have to be this way!”

In 2019, I was trained and certified to be an Enneagram facilitator and coach through the Enneagram Spectrum with Jerry Wagner, Ph.D.

Spirituality. Whether it be through meeting with my own spiritual director, writing, getting out in nature, gathering in groups, being in community with other families, or sitting in meditation, I have a deep desire to grow in my awareness of connection with an always present and always loving divine. I was raised and educated within Christianity so am well-versed in Christian conversation. Over the years, I have been strongly influenced by indigenous spiritual traditions and eastern practices like meditation and mantras. Most specifically, my heart resonates with the streams of mystical Christianity, contemplative spirituality, and animism. All things in God and God in all things.

I hope this site is a resource for you, wherever you are on your journey. Much of my earlier posts are heavy in content and definitely tell some of the story of my own journey. They are arranged by subject in the “Writing” menu. My more recent posts on spirituality and life, grief and culture, tend to be “inspired” or given to me in such a way that I don’t have an option other than to write them down.

Thanks for stopping by,

Nathan